Esias 34

1 Draw near, ye nations; and hearken, ye princes; let the earth hear, and they that are in it; the world, and the people that are therein.

Come close, you nations, and listen! You peoples, pay attention! Hear these words everyone who lives on earth, and all that comes from it!

2 For the wrath of the Lord is upon all nations, and [his] anger upon the number of them, to destroy them, and give them up to slaughter.

The Lord's anger is against all the nations and his fury is against all their armies. He will completely destroy them; he will have them slaughtered.

3 And their slain shall be cast forth, and their corpses; and their [ill] savour shall come up, and the mountains shall be made wet with their blood.

Those who are killed won't be buried; the stink of their bodies will rise; mountains will be washed away with their blood.

4 And all the powers of the heavens shall melt, and the sky shall be rolled up like a scroll: and all the stars shall fall like leaves from a vine, and as leaves fall from a fig-tree.

The sun, moon, and stars of heaven will fade away, and the skies will be rolled up like a scroll. All the stars will fall like dried-up leaves from a vine, like dried-up figs from a fig tree.

5 My sword has been made drunk in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and with judgment upon the people doomed to destruction.

After my sword has finished what it has to do in the heavens, it will come down on Edom, on the people I have doomed for destruction.

6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is glutted with fat, with the blood of goats and lambs, and with the fat of goats and rams: for the Lord has a sacrifice in Bosor, and a great slaughter in Idumea.

The sword of the Lord is coated in blood and covered with fat—the blood of lambs and goats, and the fat of rams' kidneys. For there is a sacrifice for Lord happening in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

7 And the mighty ones shall fall with them, and the rams and the bulls; and the land shall be soaked with blood, and shall be filled with their fat.

Wild ox will fall with them, the young bulls along with the mature ones. Their land will be soaked with blood, and their soil soaked with fat.

8 For it is the day of judgment of the Lord, and the year of the recompence of Sion in judgment.

For the Lord has a day of punishment, a year of retribution, for the trouble caused to Zion.

9 And her valleys shall be turned into pitch, and her land into sulphur; and her land shall be as pitch burning night and day;

Edom's streams will be turned into tar, its soil into sulfur, and her land will become burning tar!

10 and it shall never be quenched, and her smoke shall go up: it shall be made desolate throughout her generations,

The fire will burn day and night, and will never go out, its smoke will rise forever. From one generation to the next it will remain desolate—people won't ever go there again.

11 and for a long time birds and hedgehogs, and ibises and ravens shall dwell in it: and the measuring line of desolation shall be cast over it, and satyrs shall dwell in it.

The desert owl and screech owl will take it over, and the eagle owl and raven will live there. The Lord will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of destruction and a plumb line of desolation.

12 Her princes shall be no more; for her kings and her great men shall be destroyed.

Its nobles won't have anything to call a kingdom; all its princes will be gone.

13 And thorns shall spring up in their cities, and in her strong holds: and they shall be habitations of monsters, and a court of ostriches.

Thorns will grow over its palaces; weeds and thistles will take over its fortresses. It will be a place where jackals live, a home for owls.

14 And devils shall meet with satyrs, and they shall cry one to the other: there shall satyrs rest, having found for themselves [a place of] rest.

It will be a meeting place for desert animals and hyenas, and wild goats will call to each other there. Night animals will settle there and find a place to rest.

15 There has the hedgehog made its nest, and the earth has safely preserved its young: there have the deer met, and seen one another's faces.

There the owl will build its nest, lay and hatch its eggs, and raise its chicks in the shade of its wings. It has become a roost for birds of prey, each one with its mate.

16 They passed by in [full] number, and not one of them perished: they sought not one another; for the Lord commanded them, and his Spirit gathered them.

Look in the scroll of the Lord and read what it says: Not a single one of these will be missing its mate, for the Lord has ordered this to happen, and his Spirit has gathered them together.

17 And he shall cast lots for them, and his hand has portioned out [their] pasture, [saying], Ye shall inherit [the land] for ever: they shall rest on it [through] all generations.

He assigns them their territories, he divides up the land for them using a measuring line. These birds and animals will own it forever, from one generation to the next.